![]() It's just a matter of getting the knack of the timing. If you have a front hand brake as well, you coaster brake up to the intersection and as you approach it you hit the handbrake as you quickly move the pedals round to a good position to restart. In short, what a stupid method.more brute than brain. Oh what fun, trying to lift a 40-50 lb bike, possible loaded up with panniers, while balancing on one foot so as to have the other able to move the pedal.even more fun in a long skirt and heels. On bikes that are coaster brake only (no front brake), dropping the chain means you will suddenly be left brakeless. They lack the leg strength to activate the coaster brake (or have problems with their legs or knees that prevent them from doing so) They feel that a coaster brake does not provide sufficiently strong braking power for the type of riding they do They find it inconvenient that with a coaster brake, you cannot bring the pedal back into starting position in the same way as on a non-coaster brake bike They find the act of backpedaling confusing or counterintuitive I like it that coaster brakes require virtually zero maintenance or adjustments I find coaster brakes intuitive and stress-free to use: it makes sense to both accelerate and slow down with my feet I have problems with the nerves in my hands, and find it painful to use hand-operated brake levers frequently (like in stop-and-go traffic) I find it easier to modulate coaster brakes at finer increments without totally losing momentum I like to have one hand free in traffic, so that I can signal while braking I find that coaster brakes deliver softer (no sudden jolts), smoother, and more consistent stopping power in city traffic The coaster brake is internal and lives in the hub of the rear wheel, rarely requiring maintenance or adjustments. This type of brake is common in European upright city bicycles, and it is usually (but not always) supplemented with a front hand-operated brake. The harder you push back, the more braking power is applied. If you want to slow down, simply start to push the pedals backward with your feet instead of forward. ![]() In short, here is my take on the coaster brake:Ī coaster brake is a rear brake on a bicycle that is activated by pedaling backwards. So when asked whether I think coaster brakes are a good idea, I can respond only by outlining the pros and cons as I see them. For North American cyclists, the poor coaster brake is often an object of disdain - something to be abandoned with the cheap children's bikes they associate it with. It’s nice to just go out, pick a line and pedal.Oh how I love the feel of a good coaster brake on an upright city bicycle! Cruising along a Viennese bike path or a quiet Boston side street and controlling my speed with a subtle backward twitch of the legs… It's a lovely feeling of integration with the bike, where forward means go and backward means stop. ![]() Really like the angle they allow your wrists to remain while riding. Super light! Super fun! I love the SS setup on this frame and the Gusset Stash bars are a nice touch. The whole build, including pedals, weighs in at 20lbs. Being an artist, however, I had to add a splash of color somewhere, so I threw on some bright pink grips. For my SS I decided to round out the family by going with a basic black ad white scheme. Red and lime green for one and purple and lime green on the other. My other two Nimble 9s are, well, bright. I also have a Nimble 9 decked out with drop bars and panniers which functions as my commuter and back-roads/backcountry touring beast ( read post #1 / read post #2). If you’ve followed my previous posts you know I have another built up with a 120mm travel fork and a 1×9 drivetrain ( read post). ![]() For those of you that aren’t familiar, the Nimble 9 is a sweet steel, hard tail, removable/sliding dropout, 29er frame from the Canfield Brothers. This time I decided to try for a sub 20lb Canfield Brothers Nimble 9 Single Speed. I, of course, decided to get another bike frame and build it up. What to do? Sell them on craigslist/ebay? Nah. Anyway, after trading away the bike frame, I had some extra high end XC race parts laying around. As things often go in the freelance design business, I was able to trade for a bike for some website work, which I then traded for some auto work. Recently I took apart a bike I had owned for a couple of years. Well, maybe not that unlikely, but exciting for sure. In a highly unexpected turn, I have built another bike this year.
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